


Make It Right

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, dating app struggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 22:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19778086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: When Alec comes across the coworker he has a crush on in the dating app his siblings forced him to download, will he take a chance on swiping right to see what might happen?





	Make It Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Carmenlire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmenlire/gifts).



> Dedicated to Bri for her birthday, who expressed some 'same profession' interest this time around! <3

“I don’t need this ridiculous app,” Alec mutters, flipping through the start-up questions of the dating app. “I can just go _meet_ someone if I want to go on a date.” 

He doesn’t need to see the ‘uh-huh, sure’ looks of clear disbelief that Jace and Izzy are giving him to know that they aren’t buying it. He doesn’t blame them - the three of them lived together for years and almost all of Alec’s current friends he made through one, or both, of his siblings. But then Izzy and Clary got engaged and Izzy moved out, leaving just him and Jace; and as entertaining as experiencing Jace’s flavor-of-the-week girlfriends first hand is, Alec just couldn’t keep up the commute to his new job _and_ live with Jace. Barely two weeks ago Alec moved into his own place much closer to work, alone. The decision was easy knowing it was only a matter of time before they all went their separate ways, figuring it’d be easier to start now and acclimate. 

Alec thought it’d be freeing to separate himself from his siblings. Instead, all it did was make them even more concerned that he was just going to sit alone in his apartment for the rest of his life when he wasn’t teaching. 

He wishes he could say otherwise, but less than two weeks in and all he’s done is prove them right. 

It didn’t take long for him to extend his office hours at the university and make more time to volunteer at events around campus. He also spends longer on campus, staying to support some of the sports teams at home games, but he talks to _plenty_ of people while he’s at work. He tells his siblings - and himself - that spending more time at the University is just what he has to do as an Assistant Professor to make a good impression, and swears up and down that it isn’t just a distraction technique. 

They all almost believe it, himself included.

“Fine,” Alec agrees, hoping to humor them enough to get them off of his back about this. “One week. And if I hate it, I’m deleting it and you’re never forcing me to fill out another one of these profiles again,” he concedes. 

Jace goes to argue but Izzy cuts him off. “Deal,” she agrees quickly. “Now, let me take a photo of you for your profile.” 

“What’s wrong with the one I’m using now?” Alec asks, having planned on just using the same one from his Facebook on here. 

“If you have to ask that’s a sure sign you need my help,” Izzy sighs. “Now, smile.” 

...43 minutes later, Izzy has a photo that she’s satisfied with. It’s a ‘very casual’ picture of him sitting by the window in his apartment, in a plush armchair he got second-hand, one leg dangling over the arm while the other curls underneath him. It was horribly uncomfortable even if he manages to hide that fact from the photo itself. 

“There!” She exclaims proudly, putting some sort of filter on it before posting it so that none of the colors are the same as the original photo, something which he definitely doesn’t understand but knows better than to question. “I’m not sure how you manage to make an exposed ankle look so attractive, but I think it’s going to work for you.” 

“...thank you?” Alec says, the question heavy in his voice over what he can only assume is meant to be a compliment, even if it is the strangest one he’s eve received. 

“Alright, so what you’re going to do is swipe left when--” Izzy starts in, though Alec is quick to stop her. 

“I said I thought it was stupid- I don’t live under a rock. I know how it _works_ .” In all honesty, he _had_ used one or two of them in the past. But back when he was fully closeted he always just closed it in a panic the moment he even considered swiping right on an attractive guy. Also he never in a million years would’ve told his siblings when he had them because he knew what would happen. 

And he was right, because it’s happening now. 

“And I’m not going to do it while you’re here. So let’s just pick a movie, and I’ll look at it later.” He turns his back to them to head into the kitchen to grab some popcorn and drinks, and doesn’t even look back to check their reactions before adding, “I promise!” 

He hears them finally move at that, shifting the sofa so it’s closer to the table in the middle and gathering all of the pillows up into one area from their respective chairs. 

They watch the movie, end the night early because they all have work in the morning, and Alec waits until Izzy and Jace are both safely miles from his apartment before he pulls his phone back out and opens up the dating app. 

He flicks through the profile for a few minutes, looking at the photo Izzy chose and wondering why he couldn’t just use something that didn’t look staged. In fact, the longer he looks at it, the more he doesn’t like it at all, and ends up closing back out of it without doing anything. 

“...well, I only promised to look at it later.” Alec mutters to himself before setting his alarm for early enough to stop by the coffee shop on campus on the way to his office. 

\---

The line for coffee the following morning is twice as long as usual - something he should’ve anticipated given the fact that it’s Monday and half the campus seems to need some extra help recovering from their weekends. He’s in the process of very visibly judging a group of freshman wearing frowns full of regret as well as sunglasses indoors when a voice sounds behind him, just next to his shoulder. 

“Oh, come now, Alexander. Surely you remember those days.” 

Alec spins around to see Magnus Bane who is sporting yet another new jacket, this one with some sort of adornments on the shoulders paired with pants tailored so perfectly he looks as if someone plucked him off of a runway. Alec knows the jacket is new - Magnus’ second new jacket this week - because he’s spent the better part of the academic year making a mental note of every outfit Magnus wears, determined to experience just one that doesn’t make Alec’s breath catch at first glance. Right now he’s 132 for 132.

Not that Alec is counting. 

“Not really,” Alec admits. “I wasn’t a big drinker.”

He shifts his gaze from the students back to Magnus to find the other Professor giving him a quick once-over as if sizing him up. “No… I suppose you weren’t.” Magnus says after a moment of consideration. 

Alec is pretty sure he should be offended by that, even though he brought it up first and Magnus is only agreeing. 

Despite his immediate crush on Dr. Bane, one which only got worse as the year went on, Alec kept (and sadly, continues to keep) his distance. For starters, he isn’t out at the University yet, not to any of his students and certainly not to any of the faculty. He’s new here and still warming up to them, careful to keep any talk of dating or relationships vague enough to not be a _lie_ while also not giving too much away. Secondly, when Alec started Magnus had a girlfriend, and after 3 months of burying any hint of feelings he felt it was just easier to continue on that way even after he got wind that they broke up. 

There’s also the small fact that every time Alec has the chance at starting something new with someone, he ends it before it can even begin. He catches himself doing it with Magnus the past few months- every time Magnus tries to extend an olive branch and be proper friends Alec practically runs in the other direction. He’s made a fool out of himself with fumbling excuses and forced abrasiveness more times than he can count - why Dr. Bane is still so nice to him, Alec doesn’t think he’ll ever understand. 

Normally this is where Alec would excuse himself, but unfortunately the line is crawling along at a snail’s pace as Magnus continues, forcing Alec into the first proper one-on-one conversation they’ve had in months. 

“I, on the other hand, still can’t get enough of a good club. I assume you haven’t been to any around here?” Magnus waits for the shortest pause, already knowing the answer, before going on. “I know a few secret gems just far enough out of downtown to be mostly student-free, if you’d ever like to go sometime.” 

“I’m not much of a dancer, either” Alec says with a shrug, missing the flicker of disappointment fall across Magnus’ face as he side-steps the offer. “My sister Izzy says she won’t even dance with me at her wedding because she’s afraid I’ll end up breaking her toe or something.” 

That startles a laugh out of Magnus and Alec smiles back at the sound of it, melodic and carefree. He finds that he’s far too pleased with himself for being the reason behind it and does his best to bite back a grin of his own. 

“Sounds like you just need the right partner.” There’s something undoubtedly suggestive about the tone Magnus’ voice takes at the suggestion, but thankfully Alec’s turn to order comes about right at that moment and he doesn’t have time to overthink it. 

“Red eye with one cream,” he orders without hesitation before taking a step to the side to make way for Dr. Bane. 

“I’ll have what he’s having,” Magnus orders immediately after, and Alec raises an eyebrow at that. He should ignore it and continue his track record for suffering in stoic silence, but now that he’s finally allowed himself the start of an actual conversation with the other Professor he doesn’t want to stop, which is exactly what he knew would happen. Instead of speaking again, Alec compromises with himself and simply continues to look over at Magnus with a questioning expression. 

“What?” Magnus asks with feigned innocence, moving imperceptibly closer beside him to stand while they wait for their drinks. 

“You didn’t strike me as the type to drink red eyes,” Alec says. 

“Nothing good ever happened from playing it safe. What’s a Monday morning without a little adventure?” Magnus asks with a wink. 

“...wait, you mean you just copied me on a whim?” Alec huffs out a laugh. “Oh man, are you in for a surprise.” 

“It can’t be _that_ bad,” Magnus says, though there’s a hint of doubt in his voice now that wasn’t there before as the barista calls out their orders and sets them on the counter. They each grab one, and despite his reluctance to meet Magnus’ gaze earlier Alec holds it steadily now, watching his reaction as he takes a sip of the coffee. 

...and nearly spits it back out into the cup. “You _willingly_ drink this?” Magnus demands, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand, face still scrunched together in disgust. 

“It’s an acquired taste,” Alec admits, already heading towards the door. “See you around, Dr. Bane.”

“Please, just call me Magnus,” Magnus says, knowing full well Alec isn’t going to listen this time as much as he hadn’t the last dozen times. 

Alec tries not to think too much about that little run-in the rest of the day, or the tone Magnus’ voice took that one moment, or the way he seemed to crowd Alec’s personal space. After all, that’s just the sort of personality Magnus has, right? Alec could’ve been any other acquaintance of Dr. Bane’s and he would’ve done the exact same thing. 

Nothing to see there, nothing at all. 

\---

Alec is taking a quick break from grading when he remembers the app on his phone and decides to look through it for a bit to kill some time. He flips through a few photos, hesitating over one or two but finding himself slightly put-off by some of these profiles. A lot of them sound like they could’ve been written by Jace which is more than a little concerning, and when someone’s only selling point is half a dozen photos of their abs he knows it’ll be pointless to even attempt a conversation. 

He’s about to give up and close the app again when he sees it - or, more accurately, sees _him_. 

Magnus. 

The photo Dr. Bane has set on his profile is absolutely _sinful_ \- he’s sitting in the VIP lounge of a club and the lighting is dim but the people casually draped around him seem to almost frame him in the set-up rather than distract from him. Alec can see _so much_ of Magnus’ chest that he might as well not be wearing a shirt - and Alec almost wishes he wasn’t. 

Suddenly abs as a selling point doesn't seem like such a horrible idea, though he knows for a fact that Magnus has so much more to offer than the impressive body layered in sheer fabric and dangling chains on the phone screen in his hands. Perhaps that’s what makes seeing this sort of photo that much more enticing to him. And that isn’t the only photo - there’s one of Magnus lecturing, one of him at the gym, and another of him sitting on the ground surrounded by at least half a dozen cats. Of _course_ he’s perfect outside of work, too. 

Keeping the app open in the background Alec pulls up his contacts and, after a moment of consideration, clicks Simon’s name. 

“Hey, I have a theoretical question for you,” Alec starts. 

“I have a theoretical answer,” Simon counters without missing a beat. “Shoot.” 

“Say you come across a coworker on a dating app. And they’re attractive… but you’re not out at work. And also acting on a crush on a coworker is only going to end in awkward disaster… but you want to know if he’d swipe right on you, you know, just out of _curiosity…_ ” Alec rambles, letting his predicament to hang in the air. 

“Well they’re going to know you aren’t straight if they see you on there anyway, right? I mean, you wouldn’t show up for them at all unless you had your profile set to match guys, soooo… that cat’s already out of the bag whether he picks you or not.” Alec can practically hear Simon’s shrug punctuate his observation on the other end of the phone line.

“Shit. Right, well, that’s fine. It isn’t like I’m denying it or anything.” Alec may not parade the information around but he won’t hide it if it comes up. That isn’t the main issue anyway. “I don’t want him to think I like him, though.” Alec conveniently leaves out the part where he _does_ like Magnus, he just doesn’t want Magnus to _know_ .   
  
“So swipe left, then.”   
  
“But I want to know if he’d swipe right on me. And the only way to do that is to swipe right on him and wait to see if we match.” 

“...so swipe right, then? Dude, I’m not sure what you want me to tell you to do here. I don’t really have a lot of experience with those apps anyway, I’m probably not the best person to ask. Have you tried Izzy or Jace yet?” 

Alec groans, putting Simon on speaker so he can go back to looking at the app again while they talk. 

“I don’t know if I want you to talk me into it or out of it,” Alec admits. 

“Alright, look at it this way. If you swipe right he’ll never know unless he does, too. And that means he thinks you’re hot too, so there’s no harm done, just some mutual appreciation. And if he swipes left on you it isn’t like he’ll know you swiped right, no harm no foul.” 

The idea of Magnus Bane ever choosing him on a dating app - especially considering the sort of attention and responses Alec is certain that profile photo gets him - is almost laughable… but Alec wants to know if he would or not just the same. Even if it means he feels the need to avoid Magnus even more than usual at work afterward as a result. 

“Alright. I’m going for it. Thanks Si.” Alec resolutely ignores the tiny spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, something more might actually come from this, but it’s definitely there. 

“Let me know how it turns out!” Simon says before hanging up. Alec allows himself a moment to take a deep breath before swiping right and waiting to see if the ‘It’s a Match!’ screen pops up. A second or two pass. 

Nothing. Well then. 

He reminds himself that maybe he just got to it first -- maybe it isn’t that Magnus swiped left on him, but that Magnus didn’t see his profile to make a decision just yet. That, somehow, is even more terrifying than the obvious option of accepting he isn’t Magnus’ type. What if Magnus does the same thing, just to see what Alec did but not _really_ interested in him? 

Alec is already formulating a plan in his head to excuse this whole imaginary future scenario away by saying his siblings took his phone and used the app for him when there’s a knock at his propped-open door. 

Alec drops the phone out of his hands and onto the floor when he looks up and sees Dr. Bane. 

“Jumpy today, Alexander?” Magnus asks, eyebrow raised. 

“Sorry. Guess that coffee earlier kicked in too strong,” Alec lies, standing from his chair to bend over and grab the phone. When he stands back up he’s positive he catches Magnus’ looking at his-- no, absolutely not. Alec immediately dismisses it, clearing his throat. “Can I, uh, help you with something?” 

Magnus takes this as an invitation to step fully into the room, leaning back against the wall once he’s inside. “No. Just saw your light still on; I’m pretty sure you’ve been the last one here every night this week, I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”

“I’m good. I shouldn’t be here much longer,” Alec lies, eyes darting back to the pile of essays to grade in front of him. 

“Need some help? At the very least I could grab you some dinner so you don’t starve to death locked away in here.” Magnus makes the offer so casually but it sends Alec’s stomach into sweeping flips, finding the kindness behind the thought impossibly endearing before immediately wondering how pathetic he must look for Magnus to offer in the first place. 

“No,” Alec insists. “Really, I’ll be out of here in no time. Thanks, though.”   
  
Magnus hesitates for a moment before sighing. “Alright, suit yourself,” Magnus says, and Alec swears he hears Magnus mutter something about playing hard to get under his breath as he turns and heads back into the hallway. 

Alec sinks down in his chair and lets out a sigh of relief, but when he turns back to his grading it takes twice as long to get through as he stops to check his phone every few minutes, just in case. 

\---

“How is your back holding up these days?” Magnus asks, a strange glint in his eyes. 

“Why?” Alec frowns at the question. It’s only 9 am but he’s been grading for the last two hours straight, determined to finish the final pile of essays before lunch. Reaching for the cup on his desk he takes another sip of coffee to fend off the exhaustion he feels creeping in from the combination of the late night and early morning. 

“Well, I simply figured with the way you spend all of your free time reading books slung over that armchair so haphazardly, it probably does a number on your spine.” 

Alec nearly spits out his coffee. His profile photo. Of all the ways he imagined this moment of acknowledgement taking place this wasn’t even an option, and he doesn’t know if he’s more thankful or annoyed. On the one hand they can laugh this off and maybe, if he’s lucky, even act like it never happened. On the other hand, this is a bigger deal to Alec than it clearly is for Magnus who probably does stuff like this all the time. 

“I suppose I should ask how the small animal rescue league you run off your balcony is faring, then?” Alec retorts, recalling the photo with all the cats. Not the most impressive comeback but it’s the best he has after being caught off-guard. 

“All but one of them are strays, for the record. And they’re all doing lovely thank you for asking.” Magnus’ eyes never leave him no matter how much Alec averts his gaze and attempts to look too busy at his desk to have this conversation. When he looks back up Magnus is still in the doorway. 

A silence falls between them when Alec doesn’t reply. He actually _has_ been busy all morning, buried under a pile of blue books to grade, which is why his phone is still in his bag, forgotten. There’s no longer any doubt that Magnus _saw_ his profile, but whether he swiped right or not Alec has no idea, he hasn’t checked his alerts in hours. Honestly, after the night passed and he didn’t have a notification about Magnus on his app he just assumed Magnus didn’t match with him, which was fine, probably for the best. 

Or so he thought. 

“So, it seems like we’re a match?” Magnus continues conversationally, taking a slow step forward into the room before pausing, continuing only when Alec makes no move to stop him. “I have to admit, I’m a little surprised...” 

Alec’s heart, which is beating far too fast for his own good, now feels like it drops straight into his stomach. Of course Magnus is surprised, to imagine Alec ever thinking he could match up with someone like him-- 

“...after all, you’ve done nothing but shut down my attempts to flirt with you for months now.” 

“What?!” Alec sputters. 

“Please, Alexander, don’t play coy. I haven’t exactly been subtle.” 

“No, you were -- I thought you were just being nice because I was new,” Alec admits, which is mostly true. That’s what he convinced himself of this whole time, after all; that Magnus’ particular brand of niceness happens to border on flirty sometimes, not that he ever means anything by it. 

“I’m not that nice to just anybody, which is probably a side-effect of being friends with Dr. Fell for too long.” Magnus points out. “Nice would’ve ended the first two or three times you shot me down. This was shameless, almost desperate at this point, flirting.” 

Alec gapes, unable to process this information. Sure, Magnus offered to grab lunch once and a while, or drinks, or-- _oh_ . Alec just thought those were all just extended invitations so he wouldn’t feel left out as the new guy. Somehow the idea of them potentially being _dates_ hadn’t even crossed his mind until just now. Every time Magnus joked around with him, all the teasing he now realizes very belatedly was actually flirting, Alec dismissed entirely. He wrote off the invitations Magnus extended him as pity, but now…. 

“Wait, you said we’re a match. You swiped right on me?” Alec says with clear surprise, finally realizing the implication of Magnus’ previous statement 

“What part of ‘I’ve been flirting with you for months’ didn’t register?” 

“Pretty much all of it, clearly,” Alec says, the words tumbling out before he can think twice about them. 

Just like that Magnus is laughing, the noise filling the silence between them, easing it. “So you don’t hate me, then? Because if I’m being honest I was starting to get a bit of a complex about it. I’d think all the signs were there but the next minute you’d practically sprint in the opposite direction.” 

“Do me a favor and please don’t ever let my sister hear you say that. She doesn’t need to know I’m exactly as much of a disaster as she thinks I am,” Alec groans, considering his next words carefully. This can backfire spectacularly, whether Magnus means his end of it or not. If they end up going on a date and hating each other… or if Magnus is only doing this as a bet or something, to mess with the new guy... 

But looking up at Magnus’ expression while he waits for Alec to continue, Alec doesn’t see anything there but genuine interest and curiosity in his eyes. Alec lets out his momentarily held breath and decides to take one step forward this time _without_ the two steps back in return. “Sorry I made you think I hated you, it’s… it’s quite the opposite, actually.” 

There it is. He doesn’t know why he’s as nervous as he is even after everything Magnus just told him, but his heart is still racing in the few beats of silence that follows. 

“You have a funny way of showing it,” Magnus points out, but there’s a small smile spreading across his face now. “So if I ask you out for drinks after work today, you’re not going to turn me down again?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Alec points out, the small smirk that tugs across his face appearing much more daring than he actually feels, but the laugh Magnus gives again makes it totally worth the fear. 

“Alexander, darling, would you like to grab a drink with me after work tonight?” Magnus asks. 

“I don’t know, I do have an awful lot of grading to get through…” Alec starts, and the look of incredulity on Magnus’ face breaks the serious expression Alec tries to hold almost immediately. “...but I think I can fit you in.” 

“Perfect, it’s a date,” Magnus gins as he shifts towards the door again. “Try not to work too hard.”

“No promises,” Alec laughs. “And uh, yeah. I’ll see you later then, Dr--” he starts, a force of habit, before catching himself. “-Magnus.” 

It’s such a slight shift but it’s undeniable, and the way Magnus practically beams at Alec finally calling him by his first name at work is contagious - Alec can’t keep the smile off his face the rest of the day. 

And later, when Magnus swings by his office after classes to see when he’d like to leave, it’s the first night in weeks Alec isn’t the last one there. As it would turn out, it’s just the first of many. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to [Bri](http://www.twitter.com/carmenlire) for her birthday, because I'm a Bri stan first and a human being second. I hope you like it, and everyone should 1000% go check out her fics because Bri is absolutely phenomenal and deserves all the love! <3 Happy birthday, Bri! 
> 
> ( Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


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